Saints Team To Beat According To Washington Post Blogger

Don’t fall asleep on the New Orleans Saints this season

By Anthony Stalter

What people remember is how the Seahawks embarrassed them in last year’s playoffs. But the Saints were doomed long before that. Drew Brees wasn’t the same player he was in 2009, Sean Payton wasn’t the same play caller, and Gregg Williams’ defense wasn’t as opportunistic. Then the inevitable happened: injuries started to mount and when players at key positions failed to pick up the slack, the Saints struggled. Simply put, the wheels fell off and it allowed the Falcons to seize control of the NFC South.
But the Falcons have depth issues heading into the season, which is one area the Saints addressed this offseason. On defense, they wanted to get stronger up front, so they signed the highly underrated Aubrayo Franklin, as well a player in Shaun Rogers who can be destructive when he’s motivated. They also replaced the oft-injured Reggie Bush with Darren Sproles, whom Payton will love drawing up plays for. The signings of Turk McBride, Korey Hall and Fabian Washington didn’t turn heads like the Eagles’ additions of Nnamadi Asomugha, Cullen Jenkins and Ronnie Brown, but those three players are the types of veteran acquisitions that Super Bowl-caliber teams make in the offseason.
For full article go to:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-league/post/dont-fall-asleep-on-the-new-orleans-saints-this-season/2010/12/20/gIQA5Pu52I_blog.html